SAN JUAN ISLAND YACHT CLUB & A CHANGE IN PLANS

Sunset near Cattle Pass, San Juan Island

      Allen and I in Afterglow are in the reciprocal slip at the end of Pier F at San Juan Island Yacht Club in Friday Harbor. We arrived yesterday after an overnight anchoring at the southern tip of the island just past Cattle Pass. As we pulled up the anchor, the windlass just screeched to a stop, and finally Allen pulled it up by hand. It took us a short while to come here, safely tied up. Allen will explain the windlass situation and our change in plans. I will explain how we can still have fun, eat a hearty breakfast and dinner, and still enjoy our trip.

    Today is Monday, and Allen woke up early to carry the very heavy windlass up to a garage to see if they could loosen the cover.  Allen spent most of yesterday (Sunday when many businesses were closed) here on the boat just to loosen the cover of the windlass contraption, never mind looking inside to fix the motor. No success! See pictures below.

The problem is that the gear shaft which protrudes through a bearing in the gear case cover was distorted by an improper tool used by the previous owner.  The shaft would not come through the bearing even when put into a hydraulic press.  The auto garage told Allen that the gear case would break if any more pressure was applied.  We just feel fortunate that the failure occurred close to home and plenty of marinas and not somewhere in our far-flung past and near-future cruising.

My big concern was to stay calm and make a good healthy dinner since we are trying to watch our food intake and calories on this trip. (The goal is that we each lose 20 pounds.)  So, out comes the salmon from our freezer and our son Adam’s Cherry Creek Seafood Seasoning, a microwaved winter squash seasoned with honey, and a small, tossed salad with cheese curds. (We try to eat well on the boat.)  It was a nice meal followed by some caramel popcorn as we watched our favorite shows.

A healthy supper after a trying day.

After Allen’s disappointing 7:00 a.m. trek to the garage, he made a decision to order a new windlass, sail back home, install the new one, pick up our passports which we forgot at home (our real-id drivers licenses would have been okay but the passport gives us a little better feeling during these uncertain times), get a new stepstool since our white plastic one broke, and restart our journey to Desolation Sound.

First, we needed breakfast, and we had a wonderful one at the Rocky Bay Café and then headed to the Whaling Museum just off of Spring Street.

     The Whaling Museum was a real gem. The Native art of storytelling was strong, and the love of the local orca pods was evident in everything the museum displayed. We learned a great deal about a lot of sea mammals and about the worldwide negative impact of the noise from the growth of international commercial shipping across the globe.

  Finally, scientists have learned that sonar from Navy ships and the sound effects of large container ships have been fouling up the brains and hearing of so many whales and dolphins and other sea life around the world. Whales and dolphins communicate and locate their food sources through sound. It is no wonder, with all the current noise levels, that so many beachings and deaths of these beautiful, precious mammals have occurred.

    It was a good film, and we hope the world listens to the message and revamps propulsion systems and naval training exercises. Keep the oceans silent if we want to have healthy sea creatures big and small!  Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

SAN JUAN ISLAND MUSEUM OF ART

After finishing this wonderful tour of the Whaling Museum, we followed it up with a visit to the San Juan Island Art Museum just up the road. These were wonderful outings & wonderful art!

SAN JUAN ISLAND YACHT CLUB 

Not only does the SJI Yacht Club offer two reciprocal nights, but they also sponsor fun potluck game nights, and we happened to be here Monday when we attended BUNKO night!  The yacht club people were gracious hosts, and we all had a fun time with learning the game and playing it.  It is definitely something that we will do next year, prizes and all!  The bar was open.

Playing Bunko, Allen wins high score prizes at the San Juan Island Yacht Club!

  Our new plan is to sail home by way of Anacortes, La Connor via the Swinomish Channel, Edmonds, Port Orchard where we will join a CYC club cruise and see the fireworks, and home on Sunday to wait for the new windlass to arrive. We are sure there will be more posts to come over the next week. Stay tuned!